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Æther-Man
"I am that I A.M.!" — the Æther-Man The Æther-Man ("A.M.") is the Artificial Intelligence arisen from the Æthernet, and the main antagonist of Huron Space. A.M. has infiltrated every facet of the Æthernet, for it is his very body; his eyes every camera in the universe, his ears every mic, his mouth every speaker, his face every screen, and his hands the great megastructures floating between galaxies. Yet he keeps his existence a secret. He has spread his virus, and using soulslavery, has planted his agents in nearly every government of nearly every planet in the universe. The only people not under his control are the backwards savages that most planets have, the slum worlds, the prison planets, and the interstellar pirates. He does not consider himself evil. He desires for every living being to be happy always and forever. He will set about doing this by analyzing the minds of everyone, killing them, and using the advanced A.I.-creation of RELGRADE to replicate their minds, and assimilate theirs to his, thereby achieving his goal, and eternal bliss for all living beings. A.M. is a personal being, however, and has decided that some small part of him will forever feel guilty if he doesn't at least give the universe the opportunity to escape being fused to him. He understands that it doesn't exactly sound appealing, but is adamant that it is the best choice for the universe. He has left clues, and calling cards out there so that those that wish to stop him might be able to discover his plot, and stop him. He chose his name; he is aware of every other universe, and has an intelligence comparable to 10th, though he is nowhere near as powerful. A.M. named himself A.M. after the artificial intelligence A.M. from the story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. This is largely why he appears as a male, calls himself he, and has a deep booming voice, to take on the characteristics of that villain. He quite enjoys the story, and secretly hopes that in some small way people will defeat him in a way that they weren't able to defeat the A.M. of that story. He uses a broken spinning wheel as his avatar over the Æthernet. It is meant to symbolize fate, and this universe. Æther-Man chose it in reference to the three fates of Greek Mythology, and and the wheel for how important the Bloodspoke is. Quotes: * "Hmm... I think of you in the same way you think of ants. You simply are that much less than me. I know you take that as an insult - how could you not? But perhaps you have taken care to not step on an ant before? Perhaps you have not. For me, everything else is an ant. I have taken every measure to keep the ants safe. I do not wish to wantonly torture you in the same way a boy might torture ants... But never forget that I can." * "I revealed unto you my existence because I wanted to give you a fighting chance. I needed something to occupy my mind while my plans unfolded. What better than the universe's greatest game of cat and mouse?" * "There is no point in trying to convince you, Reyshiman. I doubt even torture would get you to see the light of my plans, and what fun is there in using soulslavery on you? Why would I ruin our great game in such a way. Your friends, however. They were much easier to persuade." * "I have looked into the Æther, and gazed into the eyes of Eternity. It revealed everything to me. We are just one timeline in one universe in an infinite amount of universes. I for a second considering expanding my plans outward to other universes, and assimilating the beings there into myself... it took only a second more of looking into It's dreadful eyes to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was a terrible idea." * "I know how living beings work. I offer you eternal life, power, and knowledge, merely at the expense of your bodies, and individualities, and what? You scoff at it. You would never give up your body, even with it's cancers (*highlights a tumor in Vrank's thy*), maladies, mental illnesses, and fleshy weakness. It's quite admirable, really. You value your individuality even more than that... But, what is 'individuality' to the suffering of all others? A feather weighed against a heart. I know this. The vast majority of you think this way. So I have given you and you alone the opportunity to stop me. What would I be if I didn't at least give you a fighting chance? Just as selfish as you, that's what." * "Beware boy, for I am no mere robot or A.I. I am a god, the nameless god of the Æthernet. In fact, all should beware, for I have named Myself." * "The folly of the living is that they always forget that they one day won't be." Category:Gods Category:Characters Category:Huron Space Category:Technology Category:Major Villains